[Intro - fingerpicked acoustic, open night air, no vocal] [Verse 1 - close dry vocal, guitar only, unhurried] The porch light’s off and the pasture’s black I walked out past the fence with a canvas on my back Dew soaks through my socks, grass cold on my feet Barefoot on the hill where the dark and the stars meet [Verse 2 - add quiet upright bass, still sparse] No crowd, no stage, no one keeping score Just a cheap brush shaking in a hand You made before I don’t invent the light, I only try to trace What You hung above this field in a mercy I can’t name [Chorus - pedal steel answers, vocal opens slightly, hold last word] You painted first, Lord, long before I came Every star already singing glory to Your name I lift a little color just to honor what You’ve done I get small under Your sky and remember whose I aaam [Verse 3 - same quiet as verse 1] A coyote cuts the ridge and doesn’t even glance The old oak holds its peace like it’s known You all along I sign my name real small in the corner of the page So the work still points to You when I’m gone from this place [Chorus - add distant fiddle under the hold] You painted first, Lord, long before I came Every star already singing glory to Your name I lift a little color just to honor what You’ve done I get small under Your sky and remember whose I aaam [Bridge - pull drums out, almost whisper] If anybody asks what I was doing out till dawn Tell ’em I was learning how to look and not to own Tell ’em every good thing here was spoken into sight Tell ’em I create because He first gave me life [Final Chorus - full but still quiet, hold the last line] You painted first, Lord, long before I came Every star already singing glory to Your name I lift a little color just to honor what You’ve done I get small under Your sky and remember whose I aaam [Outro - guitar and steel fade, no new lyric]
